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Henry Fawcett (MP)

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Henry Fawcett
Member of Parliament for Carlisle
In office
1812–1816
Preceded byWalter Spencer-Stanhope
John Christian Curwen
Succeeded bySir James Graham, Bt
John Christian Curwen
Member of Parliament for Grampound
In office
1806–1807
Serving with Christopher Hawkins
Preceded byBenjamin Hobhouse
Christopher Hawkins
Succeeded byHon. Andrew Cochrane-Johnstone
Hon. George Cochrane
Personal details
Born(1762-05-26)26 May 1762
Dent, Cumbria
Died15 February 1816(1816-02-15) (aged 53)
Spouse
Helen Hutchins Bellasis
(m. 1794; died 1816)
RelationsRowland Stephenson (uncle)
Children8
Parent(s)James Fawcett
Agnes Stephenson
ResidenceScaleby Castle

Henry Fawcett (26 May 1762 – 15 February 1816) of Scaleby Castle, was an English merchant and politician.

Early life

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Fawcett was born into the prominent Fawcett family on 26 May 1762 at Broadfield House, in Dent, Cumbria. He was the eldest son of James Fawcett of Broadfield, and Agnes (née Stephenson) Fawcett.[1] He succeeded to his father's estate in 1803.[1] His younger brother, Rowland Fawcett, was married to Frances Mercy Farish.

His maternal grandparents were Dorothy (née Dennison) Stephenson and Henry Stephenson of Docker Garth and Lupton High, Cumberland, and his uncle was prominent banker Rowland Stephenson of Scaleby Castle, MP for Carlisle from 1787 to 1790.[1]

Career

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While in the service of the East India Company, he was one of the original partners of the firm of Bruce & Fawcett of Bombay. He left India in 1803 and took up residence at 47 Portland Place, continuing his partnership with Patrick Craufurd Bruce, George Simson, and John de Ponthieu. Like his business partners, he sought a seat in the House of Commons, and purchased one at Grampound from Christopher Hawkins in 1806. In 1812, with his mother’s family seat of Scaleby Castle as his base, he contested Carlisle, which his uncle Rowland had represented from 1787 to 1790. He represented Carlisle until his death in February 1816.[2]

He launched the 1798 ship, Scaleby Castle.[3]

Personal life

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On 18 February 1794 at Bombay, he married Helen Hutchins Bellasis (1777–1840),[3] the only daughter of Anne Martha (née Hutchins) Bellasis (a daughter of John Hutchins) and Maj.-Gen. John Bellasis, East India Company Artillery.[4][5] Together, they were the parents of five sons and three daughters,[1] including:[3]

  • Agnes Fawcett (1795–1831), who married Strickland Charles Edward Neville-Rolfe.[3]
  • Henry Fawcett (1798–1884), a Captain in the Bombay Calvary; he married Mary Sophia Sullivan in 1837.[3]
  • James Fawcett (1800–1831), who married Isabella Pruen. After his death, she married his step-father, Barrington Tristram.[3]
  • John Fawcett (1802–1878), a Lt.-Col. with the Bombay Army and mayor of Brighton;[6] he married Amelia Smith. After her death, he married Eliza Arnold.[3]
  • Edward Gordon Fawcett (1806–1875), of the Bombay Civil Service;[7] he married Louisa Charlotte Hill.[3]

Fawcett died on 15 February 1816 "after a horse had stepped on his foot".[1] At the time of his death, he owned the Coldale Hall Estate in Caldecot under the Dean and Chapter's Manor of John le Chappele. After his death, his widow married Barrington Tristram, of the Royal Army, before her own death on 23 March 1840.[3]

Descendants

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Through his son Henry, he was posthumously a grandfather Edward Boyd Fawcett (1839–1884), an equerry to the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) who was the father of philosopher Edward Douglas Fawcett and explorer Percy Harrison Fawcett.[8]

Through his daughter Agnes, he was a grandfather of Charles Fawcett Neville-Rolfe.[3]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Anderson, J. W.; Thorne, R. G. "FAWCETT, Henry (1762-1816), of Scaleby Castle, nr. Carlisle, Cumb". www.historyofparliamentonline.org. History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 9 December 2024.
  2. ^ Drummond, Mary M. "STEPHENSON, Rowland (?1728-1807), of Scaleby Castle, nr. Carlisle, Cumb". www.historyofparliamentonline.org. History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 9 December 2024.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Gunther, Robert Theodore; Günther, Amy Neville Rolfe (1914). Rolfe Family Records: Volume II. p. 205. Retrieved 9 December 2024.
  4. ^ Nichols, John (1812). Literary Anecdotes of the Eighteenth Century: Account of the gentlemen's society at Spalding. History of the Peterborough society. Letters on the origin of the Society of antiquaries. Memoirs. p. 420. Retrieved 9 December 2024.
  5. ^ Architectural Drawings: An Exhibition of 18th and 19th Century British and Continental Architectural Drawings, Topographical Watercolours and Interiors : October 28 to November 21, 1987 at Shepherd Gallery Associates, New York City. Clarendon Gallery. 1987. p. 9. Retrieved 9 December 2024.
  6. ^ Brockliss, Laurence; Smith, Harry (25 June 2024). Male Professionals in Nineteenth Century Britain: Families, Intergenerational Mobility, and the Rise of the Professions. Oxford University Press. pp. 212–213. ISBN 978-0-19-889768-2. Retrieved 9 December 2024.
  7. ^ England), Oriental Club (London (1925). Annals of the Oriental Club, 1824-1858. Private Circulation. p. 62. Retrieved 9 December 2024.
  8. ^ Mason, Fergus (2014). The Road to El Dorado: Percy Fawcett and the Lost World of Z. BookCaps Study Guides. pp. 6–7. ISBN 9781629173825. Retrieved 11 July 2017.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Grampound
1806–1807
With: Christopher Hawkins
Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Carlisle
1812–1816
With: Sir James Graham, Bt
Succeeded by